"Culture is everything that makes up one's way of life, including shared values, knowledge, behaviors, and symbolic expression." -Dobkin, B.A., & Pace, R.C. (2006) "Communication in a Changing World". New York: McGraw-Hill. p 23.
Culture is a sort of life force that encapsulates us as a people as individuals, as states, as communities, as regions, and as countries. Culture enriches every person across the globe whether we know it or not. Culture is all encompassing and includes things like our food, spirituality, music, celebrations, clothing, traditions, pastimes. Culture is what makes us who we are, and people take pride in their cultures.
Each culture has it's own individual set of traditions and rituals that make it what it is. What makes a culture unique is its perspectives, distinctions and representations that it's members all share. Values present a picture of a culture's ethical and moral beliefs, as well as it's standards and expectation for it's members.
Culture can be seen through a variety of different symbolic expressions that are important to that particular culture. Symbolic expression can represent a culture's history of it's people. In the United States, for example, we celebrate Independence Day and Martin Luther King Day.
Brazillian celebration of Carnival
Co-cultures can also exist within a culture. A culture in the twenty first century cannot be as neatly packaged and defined as it could five hundred years ago. Due to the advancements of technology and transportation, a person's culture can now be reflected by a person's culture's- encompassing specific aspects of more than one culture.
Culture reflects connections that link people together, and shows similarities and perspectives we all share. Culture also has the ability to distinguish us from each other.
“Folk Culture”- is based on a way of life prior to industrialization and urbanization it refers to an inward looking culture. It is a ‘way of life’ of the common people-the rural dwellers. It is a culture of the agricultural worker, working on the land and toiling the soil. It is a conservative existence, a representation
A Russian folktale storybook
of man isolated from the influences of modern day life, People of this type of culture prefer the "old ways" over the novelty of modern times. a primitive time, the old ways, of days past. It is a culture void of empowerment and promotion, a culture where all men must work together, in strong connotations of their place of origin.
“A set of cultural values and ideas that arise from common exposure of a population to the same cultural activities, communications media, music and art, etc. Mass culture becomes possible with the use of modern communications and electronic media. A mass culture is transmitted to individuals, rather than arising from people's daily interactions, and therefore lacks the distinctive content of cultures rooted in community and region. Mass culture tends to reproduce the liberal value of individualism and to foster a view of the citizen as consumer.” -Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2002, September 26). Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences [Online]. Available: http://bitbucket.icaap.org/dict.pl?term=mass%20culture
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“Mass Culture”-is based on a movement by the people to strive for a better ‘way of life’ than the one they know. It is enlightenment into the future, a realization and knowledge of what development, capitalism, and promotion can mean. It represents individuality and goals. It encompasses industrialization and urbanization. It evokes entrepreneurism and self-improvement. The rewards of mass culture come not only from the land, but also through technology, material possessions, education, and empowerment. It supplies the tools and means necessary to enable its members the chance to move up and out of a lower ‘class’ or standard of living.
Primary Resources are reproduced first-hand accounts of a topic or event. They are written and recorded by people who were actual witnesses and observed the events unfold. Primary resources include such publications and documentation as autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, interviews, marriage records, and federal census records.
Secondary Resources
A Secondary resource is something written about a Primary resource. It can include comments, discussions or interpretation based on original material. It is a second-hand account of information. It is a resource that has not been written by an author who was present at the activity/event in question. It is information that has changed hands more than once. It is less formal and less reliable than a resource. Examples of a Secondar resource include articles in newspapers, magazines, books, and reviews.
Hegemony is a way for those in power to stay in power. Those in power push their beliefs and values as the norm through the media and thus, convince the public to accept all of it is true. In a society such as this, it as seen as the people reaching a consensus, but really it is just a society without conflict as everyone has laid down and accepted what is fed to them through the media or officials.
Historically, Native Americans were affected by this hegemony. They were portrayed as savages that needed to be tamed by the American government so, they were rounded up and given small piece fo land and then Christianity was forced upon them so that they could become sophisticated peoples. What really ended up happening though was the slaughter of many peoples and their culture all in the name of manifest destiny.
In the days of Folk Culture this can be seen as a system of position and rank. The elitists of the day were the ones in power, the dominant class, whilst the rural laborers were seen as the subservient and 'accepting' class. Hegemony relies on the support of the people being dominated in order for it to exist.
Pop Art
"Painting, sculpture, and graphics that use the imagery of popular or mass culture such as newspapers, comics, advertising, and consumer goods. A witty and ironic art, it emerged in New York in the 1960s after beginning in London during the 1950s."
"The Pop Art movement originated in England in the 1950s and traveled overseas to the United States during the 1960s. Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi, both members of the Independent Group, pioneered the movement in London in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the movement was carried by Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, David Hockney, Allen Jones, and Peter Phillips. In the early sixties, Pop art found its way to the United States, seen in the work of Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg. It developed in the United States as a response to the wealth of the post World War II era and the growing materialism and consumerism in society. The most recognized Pop Artist, Andy Warhol, used a photo-realistic, mass production printmaking technique called seriagraphy to produce his commentaries on media, fame, and advertising. Pop Art made commentary on contemporary society and culture, particularly consumerism, by using popular images and icons and incorporating and re-defining them in the art world. Often subjects were derived from advertising and product packaging, celebrities, and comic strips. The images are presented with a combination of humor, criticism and irony. In doing this, the movement put art into terms of everyday, contemporary life. It also helped to decrease the gap between "high art" and "low art" and eliminated the distinction between fine art and commercial art methods."
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000182 EndHTML:0000032335 StartFragment:0000003783 EndFragment:0000032299 SourceURL:file:/Users/kerri/Desktop/The%20Evolution%20of%20the%20Vari.doc The evolution of the variety stage on film Group 5
By Kerri Saulmon
Molly cuello
Kevlyn Verge
Larry Blackburn
December 1, 2010
IDS 3123
The Evolution of the Variety Stage in Film It’s 1895, the lights go down, and the people are called to the show by the vision of moving pictures. Moving Pictures first came on the scene during the late nineteenth century/ early twentieth century and what most people saw in the beginning were the vaudeville acts that were popular in this era of entertainment. Were the shows of that time so much different than what we watch today as entertainment? Vaudeville shows were made up of about eight acts that ranged from animal talents, like monkeys riding bicycles and elephants performing circus acts, to original dramatic performances by actors who wrote and acted them. It was set up as gradually exciting performances one after another until the climax of the headliner, the star of the show, which in the beginning of film was a movie, until the novelty wore off. Vaudeville managers would start the show with the “dumb” acts, performances that didn’t really have sound so that people could file in without disturbing the performers. Then other acts followed keeping the audience entertained and happy until the big name came out, followed by an intermission. After intermission, the momentum had to sustain the show for another couple of acts for another big name and the star of the show, which was usually followed by a “chaser” as the crowd left, yet it still needed to entertain the remaining audience and this became where films were shown, they were considered “dumb” acts and expresses how low film was in the theater after the novelty wore off. In the beginning there were only a few projector companies and Vaudeville managers were eager to book these visual features in the shows. They were heavily marketed and more companies had to make projectors to keep up with demand soon after the inception. Huge numbers of people could see these motion pictures and from about 1895 until about 1905 the Vaudeville theaters were the primary venue of the moving picture. And then in 1905 the nickelodeon was created, little storefront theaters until the creation of the large motion picture theater in around 1910. Film in the early days was short so the acts of the Vaudeville stage were a perfect fit for the filmmakers of the time, as there was no shortage of performers. However, the acts were never filmed live because they needed to be “edited” for film since there was no sound recording technology and comedy, music and ambient sounds had to be relayed in different ways. The “dumb” acts with no sound were actually the best choices for film. These movies were most often shown at the end of a live vaudeville show as the closing number, while people filed out of the theater so that it didn’t matter that there was no sound, the novelty of a moving picture was popular at first but lost its footing in the billing when people realized that why would they want to go see a sub par performance even if it was on screen, than a live performance that had all of the sound and nuances. Eventually, people didn’t want to see the vaudeville acts on screen anymore, however, they did want the actuality films about news and local happenings and such. So after a time of about ten to fifteen years, variety films faded away. Until about the fifties and they had a big come back that is still going strong today. The variety show from the short vaudeville venues changed with technology and became big with a couple of branches that focus on one aspect of vaudeville, whether it is comedy or dance. But the first to hit the scene in a big way is the talk show. A popular type of variety show this day and age, are talk shows. Talks shows have been popular in the media industry since the year 1951. Talk shows feature a regular host for each episode aired, and each show aired also features a variety of special guests interviewed by the host, such as celebrities, musical artists, athletes, political figures, and other forms of entertainment. Having various kinds of entertainment appeals more to the viewers, which contributes to the success, and popularity of the shows. Joe Franklin, also known as the “king of nostalgia” (Internet Movie Database, IMDB), hosted the first televised talk show in 1951, and since then the talk show phenomenon has grown even more in popularity. Steve Allen followed in 1954, with his own talk show, The Tonight Show, which is one of the most popular talk shows today, featuring hosts such as Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Conan O’Brien, even though his time on the Tonight Show was short lived, and the current host, Jay Leno. Johnny Carson hosted the Tonight Show for a total of thirty successful years, which is the longest amount of time in talk show history. Another successful talk show, known as the Late Show, began in the year 1993, and was hosted by David Letterman. David Letterman also hosted Late Night with David Letterman. Late Night has also featured hosts, such as Conan O’Brien, who is also very successful in the media industry as a talk show host. Conan O’Brien hosted Late Night from 1993 until the year 2009, when he replaced Jay Leno after Leno retired from his career as the host. Unfortunately, Conan’s time as the host of the Tonight Show, was short lived, after Jay Leno took back his place as host of the Tonight Show. Luckily, Conan O’Brien is back again with his own successful talk show, which airs on TBS. Aside from late night talk shows, another popular talk show is Ellen, which is hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen first aired on television in 2003. Another hugely successful talk show is the Oprah Winfrey Show, hosted by Oprah Winfrey, which first aired on television in the year 1986. The show has grown immensely in popularity and success over the past years. The show Live with Regis and Kelly, is also another popular talk show, featuring hosts Regis Philbin, and Kelly Ripa. The show first aired in 1983, with co-host Kathie Lee, before being replaced by Kelly Ripa. The show was formerly known as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Another successful, yet also controversial talk show is The Jerry Springer Show, which is hosted by Jerry Springer. The show first aired on television in the year 1991. Talk shows are, and always have been a widely successful and popular, type of variety show. With all the various special guests featured on the shows, talk shows offer a variety of forms of entertainment, that viewers can take a liking to, depending on what interests them. The fact that variety shows, including talk shows, offer numerous forms of entertainment is what makes them so successful. Then there are the evening and late night shows like sketch comedy. “Sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called “sketches,” commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting.” Most of the time when sketch comedy is being created, the actors have an improve session, and whatever they improvise is written down based on what they came up with during the session. Even though improvisation is commonly used, it is not always involved in sketch comedy.“Sketch comedy programs differ from sitcoms in that they do not basically feature recurring characters (though some characters and scenarios may be repeated) and often draw upon current events and emphasize satire over character development.” Sketch comedy originates from music halls and vaudevilles where they had short comical acts that formed altogether a bigger show. “Actors and comedians would put together short comedy routines to perform in variety programs that would also feature magic acts, musical entertainers, and dance numbers.” Sid Ceaser opened the doors for sketch comedy with his show; Your Show of Shows which appeared in 1950, and it lead the way for other sketch comedy shows. In America, it really became popular in the mid-1907s because of the increase in improvisational comedy during that time. It also became popular during that time because that is when the show Saturday Night Live debuted. When sketch comedy began the sketches performed shared no connection between each other. Today the sketches have a connecting link within a show, and they also have characters that appear or return again in another show. There have been many popular sketch comedy shows since the debut of Your Show of Showsin 1950. Saturday Night Live was created by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol; it is a live sketch comedy and variety show that appears during late-night television. On October 11, 1975 the show aired on NBC where it was originally called NBC’s Saturday Night. The sketches that appear on the show make fun of politics, people and the culture of present-day United States. MADtv is also a sketch comedy television show, and it was developed Fax Bahr and Adam Small. Fox premiered the show on October 14, 1995, and it appeared on Saturday nights. On May 16, 2009 the series finale was shown after 14 long successful seasons. Like Saturday Night Live, All That is a sketch comedy and variety show that was played on the Nickelodeon network. It featured comedy sketches and a musical guest every episode which were both targeted to the younger audience. After being created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin, on December 24, 1994 the show was successfully aired. One of the most well known sketches was called “Good Burger.” It was a sketch that appeared on most episodes that took place in fast food restaurant. The sketch was about a teenage employee named Ed, he was always accident-prone and he somehow always figured out how to ruin things; especially people’s orders. All Thatlasted for ten seasons and the last episode was shown on October 22, 2005. Another known sketch comedy show is Chappelle’s Show; it was created by Dave Chappelle and also Neal Brennan. This show aired on January 22, 2003 on Comedy Central. Dave Chappelle not only created the show, he also hosted it, and he appeared in most (if not all) of the sketches on the show. Even though the show only had two complete seasons, it was broadcasted in other countries such as; Australia, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Because of the show’s content and popularity it was ranked thirty-one TV Guide’s top 100 shows list. A list of other notable sketch comedy shows is In Living Color, Mr. Bean, The Carol Burnett Show, Blue Collar TV, The Amanda Show, and Robot Chicken. Sketch comedy has an important connection with pop culture and culture in general. A lot of sketches on the shows parody the culture of our world; from what we say, what we do, how we live, and even what we wear. Some of these sketches can be one sided especially when Saturday Night Live// does their sketches based on politics. The sketches can be used for comic relief or they can sometimes have an underlying message in them. Sketch comedy shows appear on television, the Internet, the radio, and on stage, and many of the popular shows are known worldwide. And there has been yet another jump back to the variety show homeland as of late. More recently, variety shows have again become a staple of pop-culture entertainment. In 2006, the “Got Talent” series of shows started in England. What came after that was a global phenomenon. To this day, the series has spawned spin-off shows in over thirty countries around the world. The show challenges anyone with absolutely any talent, from singing to sword swallowing and beyond, to come showcase themselves in front of judges and the world to see if they have what it takes to be the top talent of their country. But, this show reaches further than being a simple T.V. show. This show isn’t like most other variety shows that existed through time because it’s not a scripted program like Sunny and Cher’s show, but rather it’s a real competition. I think this fact in addition to the aforementioned extreme variety of the show have allowed it to become one of the most viewed shows every year across the globe. Of course with the premise of the program being that anyone can come compete, there are inevitably going to be acts that are perceived as strange or ridiculous. When the “ridiculous” talents come up on stage, they fight every social “norm” that’s been established over time, and thus are fighting the hegemony that’s been established that keeps people like them out of the limelight. Sometimes, these acts do very well. Terry Fator, a singing ventriloquist was nearly laughed out of the building when he first walked on stagesimply because he was a ventriloquist. When he began his act though, everyone was in complete awe. The same defiance of hegemony applies to the you tube sensation Susan Boyle. She wouldn’t exactly be described as an extremely attractive or intelligent woman, and because of this lack of “beauty” she was almost instantly waved off as another fruitless pointless competitor. However, when she sang like an angel, she shocked everyone. The Washington Post said it best I think with this: “Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. [...] There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.”(Jordan, 2009) Often the contestants bring their culture with them when they perform. Some do just fine but the majority of them are completely laughed out of the building. This is really heart breaking because they bring something that they identify with and sometimes defines them, and it’s just laughed at for being different or what our culture today considers to be “corny”. At the same time though, this is what is bound to happen with some acts like an accordion act. As culture evolves, some things really fall to the wayside and fill a niche rather than being appealing to the masses. Though, the way modern culture has evolved, people often find watching these “ridiculous” acts to be very funny. Rather than being looked at as a serious competitor in a completion, they are seen as nothing more than court jesters. I can’t help but feel for these people who are most certainly heart broken after leaving the stage. I think that really says our culture has taken a rather ugly turn in some respects, but that’s just how it works out. People usually mock what they don’t understand, and something like an accordion or someone with 10 poorly trained dogs is easy to laugh at. That being said though, there are often acts which consist of people acting stupid purely to get on T.V. I think it’s important to note though, that even considering all the ways that variety shows, culture, and people have changed over nearly a century, that variety show acts from the past are still very relevant in today’s competitive variety show scene. Acts like hula-hoop experts and burlesque dancers are still prominent in the competition. Lots are acts though, fit in perfectly with the mass culture. Just like the mass consumer culture all around us, the variety show has adapted with it. As I said, old-fashioned acts have fallen to the wayside and are either ignored or laughed at while acts that emulate pop culture like ballroom dancing or pop music thrive in this environment and usually do well in the competition. As time goes on though, eventually we may very well see even these extremely popular acts fade away or even be laughed at when they come onto the stage. Furthermore, it’s just as likely that variety shows themselves will someday once again be seen as “stupid”, “old fashioned”, or “corny” because nobody can predict the future and nobody knows what’s going to be cool in 3 years, 3 months, or even 3 weeks.
Culture is...
"Culture is everything that makes up one's way of life, including shared values, knowledge, behaviors, and symbolic expression."
-Dobkin, B.A., & Pace, R.C. (2006) "Communication in a Changing World". New York: McGraw-Hill. p 23.
Culture is a sort of life force that encapsulates us as a people as individuals, as states, as communities, as regions, and as countries. Culture enriches every person across the globe whether we know it or not. Culture is all encompassing and includes things like our food, spirituality, music, celebrations, clothing, traditions, pastimes. Culture is what makes us who we are, and people take pride in their cultures.
Each culture has it's own individual set of traditions and rituals that make it what it is. What makes a culture unique is its perspectives, distinctions and representations that it's members all share. Values
present a picture of a culture's ethical and moral beliefs, as well as it's standards and expectation for it's members.
Culture can be seen through a variety of different symbolic expressions that are important to that particular culture. Symbolic expression can represent a culture's history of it's people. In the United States, for example, we celebrate Independence Day and Martin Luther King Day.
Co-cultures can also exist within a culture. A culture in the
twenty first century cannot be as neatly packaged and defined as it could five hundred years ago. Due to the advancements of technology and transportation, a person's culture can now be reflected by a person's culture's- encompassing specific aspects of more than one culture.
Culture reflects connections that link people together, and shows similarities and perspectives we all share. Culture also has the ability to distinguish us from each other.
FOLK AND MASS CULTURE
FOLK CULTURE
“Folk Culture”- is based on a way of life prior to industrialization and urbanization it refers to an inward looking culture. It is a ‘way of life’ of the common people-the rural dwellers. It is a culture of the agricultural worker, working on the land and toiling the soil. It is a conservative existence, a representation
of man isolated from the influences of modern day life, People of this type of culture prefer the "old ways" over the novelty of modern times. a primitive time, the old ways, of days past. It is a culture void of empowerment and promotion, a culture where all men must work together, in strong connotations of their place of origin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_4DtoYvbk
MASS CULTURE ®
“A set of cultural values and ideas that arise from common exposure of a population to the same cultural activities, communications media, music and art, etc. Mass culture becomes possible with the use of modern communications and electronic media. A mass culture is transmitted to individuals, rather than arising from people's daily interactions, and therefore lacks the distinctive content of cultures rooted in community and region. Mass culture tends to reproduce the liberal value of individualism and to foster a view of the citizen as consumer.”
-Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2002, September 26). Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences [Online]. Available: http://bitbucket.icaap.org/dict.pl?term=mass%20culture
These messages are brought to you by
“Mass Culture”-is based on a movement by the people to strive for a better ‘way of life’ than the one they know. It is enlightenment into the future, a realization and knowledge of what development, capitalism, and promotion can mean. It represents individuality and goals. It encompasses industrialization and urbanization. It evokes entrepreneurism and self-improvement. The rewards of mass culture come not only from the land, but also through technology, material possessions, education, and empowerment. It supplies the tools and means necessary to enable its members the chance to move up and out of a lower ‘class’ or standard of living.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMCfO7sEb6E
Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Resources
Primary Resources are reproduced first-hand accounts of a topic or event. They are written and recorded by people who were actual witnesses and observed the events unfold. Primary resources include such publications and documentation as autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, interviews, marriage records, and federal census records.
Secondary Resources
A Secondary resource is something written about a Primary resource. It can include comments, discussions or interpretation based on original material. It is a second-hand account of information. It is a resource that has not been written by an author who was present at the activity/event in question. It is information that has changed hands more than once. It is less formal and less reliable than a resource. Examples of a Secondar resource include articles in newspapers, magazines, books, and reviews.Videos to watch:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4uaMfoVB0k
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F0mUUOWYrQ
Hegemony
Hegemony is a wayHistorically, Native Americans were affected by this hegemony. They were portrayed as savages that needed to be tamed by the American government so, they were rounded up and given small piece fo land and then Christianity was forced upon them so that they could become sophisticated peoples. What really ended up happening though was the slaughter of many peoples and their culture all in the name of manifest destiny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nryceuxiCLY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soTVc0LtHuw&feature=related
In the days of Folk Culture this can be seen as a system of position and rank. The elitists of the day were the ones in power, the dominant class, whilst the rural laborers were seen as the subservient and 'accepting' class. Hegemony relies on the support of the people being dominated in order for it to exist.
Pop Art
"Painting, sculpture, and graphics that use the imagery of popular or mass culture such as newspapers, comics, advertising, and consumer goods. A witty and ironic art, it emerged in New York in the 1960s after beginning in London during the 1950s."
http://www.nga.gov/education/american/aaglossary.shtm
"The Pop Art movement originated in England in the 1950s and traveled overseas to the United States during the 1960s. Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi, both members of the Independent Group, pioneered the movement in London in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the movement was carried by Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, David Hockney, Allen Jones, and Peter Phillips. In the early sixties, Pop art found its way to the United States, seen in the work of Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg. It developed in the United States as a response to the wealth of the post World War II era and the growing materialism and consumerism in society. The most recognized Pop Artist, Andy Warhol, used a photo-realistic, mass production printmaking technique called seriagraphy to produce his commentaries on media, fame, and advertising.
Pop Art made commentary on contemporary society and culture, particularly consumerism, by using popular images and icons and incorporating and re-defining them in the art world. Often subjects were derived from advertising and product packaging, celebrities, and comic strips. The images are presented with a combination of humor, criticism and irony. In doing this, the movement put art into terms of everyday, contemporary life. It also helped to decrease the gap between "high art" and "low art" and eliminated the distinction between fine art and commercial art methods."
http://wwar.com/masters/movements/pop_art.html
videos to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IxcJsXyWtQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcZseTObbFU&feature=related
Variety Shows
Evolution of the VARIETY SHOW!!!Comedic Scetch http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/varsmp/1598.mov
The evolution of the variety stage on film
Group 5
By Kerri Saulmon
Molly cuello
Kevlyn Verge
Larry Blackburn
December 1, 2010
IDS 3123
The Evolution of the Variety Stage in Film
It’s 1895, the lights go down, and the people are called to the show by the vision of moving pictures. Moving Pictures first came on the scene during the late nineteenth century/ early twentieth century and what most people saw in the beginning were the vaudeville acts that were popular in this era of entertainment. Were the shows of that time so much different than what we watch today as entertainment?
Vaudeville shows were made up of about eight acts that ranged from animal talents, like monkeys riding bicycles and elephants performing circus acts, to original dramatic performances by actors who wrote and acted them. It was set up as gradually exciting performances one after another until the climax of the headliner, the star of the show, which in the beginning of film was a movie, until the novelty wore off. Vaudeville managers would start the show with the “dumb” acts, performances that didn’t really have sound so that people could file in without disturbing the performers. Then other acts followed keeping the audience entertained and happy until the big name came out, followed by an intermission. After intermission, the momentum had to sustain the show for another couple of acts for another big name and the star of the show, which was usually followed by a “chaser” as the crowd left, yet it still needed to entertain the remaining audience and this became where films were shown, they were considered “dumb” acts and expresses how low film was in the theater after the novelty wore off.
In the beginning there were only a few projector companies and Vaudeville managers were eager to book these visual features in the shows. They were heavily marketed and more companies had to make projectors to keep up with demand soon after the inception. Huge numbers of people could see these motion pictures and from about 1895 until about 1905 the Vaudeville theaters were the primary venue of the moving picture. And then in 1905 the nickelodeon was created, little storefront theaters until the creation of the large motion picture theater in around 1910.
Film in the early days was short so the acts of the Vaudeville stage were a perfect fit for the filmmakers of the time, as there was no shortage of performers. However, the acts were never filmed live because they needed to be “edited” for film since there was no sound recording technology and comedy, music and ambient sounds had to be relayed in different ways. The “dumb” acts with no sound were actually the best choices for film. These movies were most often shown at the end of a live vaudeville show as the closing number, while people filed out of the theater so that it didn’t matter that there was no sound, the novelty of a moving picture was popular at first but lost its footing in the billing when people realized that why would they want to go see a sub par performance even if it was on screen, than a live performance that had all of the sound and nuances. Eventually, people didn’t want to see the vaudeville acts on screen anymore, however, they did want the actuality films about news and local happenings and such. So after a time of about ten to fifteen years, variety films faded away. Until about the fifties and they had a big come back that is still going strong today. The variety show from the short vaudeville venues changed with technology and became big with a couple of branches that focus on one aspect of vaudeville, whether it is comedy or dance. But the first to hit the scene in a big way is the talk show.
A popular type of variety show this day and age, are talk shows. Talks shows have been popular in the media industry since the year 1951. Talk shows feature a regular host for each episode aired, and each show aired also features a variety of special guests interviewed by the host, such as celebrities, musical artists, athletes, political figures, and other forms of entertainment. Having various kinds of entertainment appeals more to the viewers, which contributes to the success, and popularity of the shows.
Joe Franklin, also known as the “king of nostalgia” (Internet Movie Database, IMDB), hosted the first televised talk show in 1951, and since then the talk show phenomenon has grown even more in popularity. Steve Allen followed in 1954, with his own talk show, The Tonight Show, which is one of the most popular talk shows today, featuring hosts such as Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Conan O’Brien, even though his time on the Tonight Show was short lived, and the current host, Jay Leno. Johnny Carson hosted the Tonight Show for a total of thirty successful years, which is the longest amount of time in talk show history. Another successful talk show, known as the Late Show, began in the year 1993, and was hosted by David Letterman. David Letterman also hosted Late Night with David Letterman. Late Night has also featured hosts, such as Conan O’Brien, who is also very successful in the media industry as a talk show host. Conan O’Brien hosted Late Night from 1993 until the year 2009, when he replaced Jay Leno after Leno retired from his career as the host. Unfortunately, Conan’s time as the host of the Tonight Show, was short lived, after Jay Leno took back his place as host of the Tonight Show. Luckily, Conan O’Brien is back again with his own successful talk show, which airs on TBS.
Aside from late night talk shows, another popular talk show is Ellen, which is hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen first aired on television in 2003. Another hugely successful talk show is the Oprah Winfrey Show, hosted by Oprah Winfrey, which first aired on television in the year 1986. The show has grown immensely in popularity and success over the past years. The show Live with Regis and Kelly, is also another popular talk show, featuring hosts Regis Philbin, and Kelly Ripa. The show first aired in 1983, with co-host Kathie Lee, before being replaced by Kelly Ripa. The show was formerly known as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Another successful, yet also controversial talk show is The Jerry Springer Show, which is hosted by Jerry Springer. The show first aired on television in the year 1991.
Talk shows are, and always have been a widely successful and popular, type of variety show. With all the various special guests featured on the shows, talk shows offer a variety of forms of entertainment, that viewers can take a liking to, depending on what interests them. The fact that variety shows, including talk shows, offer numerous forms of entertainment is what makes them so successful. Then there are the evening and late night shows like sketch comedy.
“Sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called “sketches,” commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting.” Most of the time when sketch comedy is being created, the actors have an improve session, and whatever they improvise is written down based on what they came up with during the session. Even though improvisation is commonly used, it is not always involved in sketch comedy. “Sketch comedy programs differ from sitcoms in that they do not basically feature recurring characters (though some characters and scenarios may be repeated) and often draw upon current events and emphasize satire over character development.”
Sketch comedy originates from music halls and vaudevilles where they had short comical acts that formed altogether a bigger show. “Actors and comedians would put together short comedy routines to perform in variety programs that would also feature magic acts, musical entertainers, and dance numbers.” Sid Ceaser opened the doors for sketch comedy with his show; Your Show of Shows which appeared in 1950, and it lead the way for other sketch comedy shows. In America, it really became popular in the mid-1907s because of the increase in improvisational comedy during that time. It also became popular during that time because that is when the show Saturday Night Live debuted. When sketch comedy began the sketches performed shared no connection between each other. Today the sketches have a connecting link within a show, and they also have characters that appear or return again in another show.
There have been many popular sketch comedy shows since the debut of Your Show of Shows in 1950. Saturday Night Live was created by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol; it is a live sketch comedy and variety show that appears during late-night television. On October 11, 1975 the show aired on NBC where it was originally called NBC’s Saturday Night. The sketches that appear on the show make fun of politics, people and the culture of present-day United States. MADtv is also a sketch comedy television show, and it was developed Fax Bahr and Adam Small. Fox premiered the show on October 14, 1995, and it appeared on Saturday nights. On May 16, 2009 the series finale was shown after 14 long successful seasons. Like Saturday Night Live, All That is a sketch comedy and variety show that was played on the Nickelodeon network. It featured comedy sketches and a musical guest every episode which were both targeted to the younger audience. After being created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin, on December 24, 1994 the show was successfully aired. One of the most well known sketches was called “Good Burger.” It was a sketch that appeared on most episodes that took place in fast food restaurant. The sketch was about a teenage employee named Ed, he was always accident-prone and he somehow always figured out how to ruin things; especially people’s orders. All That lasted for ten seasons and the last episode was shown on October 22, 2005. Another known sketch comedy show is Chappelle’s Show; it was created by Dave Chappelle and also Neal Brennan. This show aired on January 22, 2003 on Comedy Central. Dave Chappelle not only created the show, he also hosted it, and he appeared in most (if not all) of the sketches on the show. Even though the show only had two complete seasons, it was broadcasted in other countries such as; Australia, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Because of the show’s content and popularity it was ranked thirty-one TV Guide’s top 100 shows list. A list of other notable sketch comedy shows is In Living Color, Mr. Bean, The Carol Burnett Show, Blue Collar TV, The Amanda Show, and Robot Chicken.
Sketch comedy has an important connection with pop culture and culture in general. A lot of sketches on the shows parody the culture of our world; from what we say, what we do, how we live, and even what we wear. Some of these sketches can be one sided especially when Saturday Night Live// does their sketches based on politics. The sketches can be used for comic relief or they can sometimes have an underlying message in them. Sketch comedy shows appear on television, the Internet, the radio, and on stage, and many of the popular shows are known worldwide. And there has been yet another jump back to the variety show homeland as of late.
More recently, variety shows have again become a staple of pop-culture entertainment. In 2006, the “Got Talent” series of shows started in England. What came after that was a global phenomenon. To this day, the series has spawned spin-off shows in over thirty countries around the world. The show challenges anyone with absolutely any talent, from singing to sword swallowing and beyond, to come showcase themselves in front of judges and the world to see if they have what it takes to be the top talent of their country. But, this show reaches further than being a simple T.V. show. This show isn’t like most other variety shows that existed through time because it’s not a scripted program like Sunny and Cher’s show, but rather it’s a real competition. I think this fact in addition to the aforementioned extreme variety of the show have allowed it to become one of the most viewed shows every year across the globe.
Of course with the premise of the program being that anyone can come compete, there are inevitably going to be acts that are perceived as strange or ridiculous. When the “ridiculous” talents come up on stage, they fight every social “norm” that’s been established over time, and thus are fighting the hegemony that’s been established that keeps people like them out of the limelight. Sometimes, these acts do very well. Terry Fator, a singing ventriloquist was nearly laughed out of the building when he first walked on stagesimply because he was a ventriloquist. When he began his act though, everyone was in complete awe. The same defiance of hegemony applies to the you tube sensation Susan Boyle. She wouldn’t exactly be described as an extremely attractive or intelligent woman, and because of this lack of “beauty” she was almost instantly waved off as another fruitless pointless competitor. However, when she sang like an angel, she shocked everyone. The Washington Post said it best I think with this:
“Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. [...] There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.”(Jordan, 2009)
Often the contestants bring their culture with them when they perform. Some do just fine but the majority of them are completely laughed out of the building. This is really heart breaking because they bring something that they identify with and sometimes defines them, and it’s just laughed at for being different or what our culture today considers to be “corny”. At the same time though, this is what is bound to happen with some acts like an accordion act. As culture evolves, some things really fall to the wayside and fill a niche rather than being appealing to the masses. Though, the way modern culture has evolved, people often find watching these “ridiculous” acts to be very funny. Rather than being looked at as a serious competitor in a completion, they are seen as nothing more than court jesters. I can’t help but feel for these people who are most certainly heart broken after leaving the stage. I think that really says our culture has taken a rather ugly turn in some respects, but that’s just how it works out. People usually mock what they don’t understand, and something like an accordion or someone with 10 poorly trained dogs is easy to laugh at. That being said though, there are often acts which consist of people acting stupid purely to get on T.V. I think it’s important to note though, that even considering all the ways that variety shows, culture, and people have changed over nearly a century, that variety show acts from the past are still very relevant in today’s competitive variety show scene. Acts like hula-hoop experts and burlesque dancers are still prominent in the competition.
Lots are acts though, fit in perfectly with the mass culture. Just like the mass consumer culture all around us, the variety show has adapted with it. As I said, old-fashioned acts have fallen to the wayside and are either ignored or laughed at while acts that emulate pop culture like ballroom dancing or pop music thrive in this environment and usually do well in the competition. As time goes on though, eventually we may very well see even these extremely popular acts fade away or even be laughed at when they come onto the stage. Furthermore, it’s just as likely that variety shows themselves will someday once again be seen as “stupid”, “old fashioned”, or “corny” because nobody can predict the future and nobody knows what’s going to be cool in 3 years, 3 months, or even 3 weeks.
Primary Source
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vsfilm.htmlSecondary Sources
www.nbc.comwww.madtv.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.comedycentral.com
Jordan, M. (2009, April 16). The scot heard round the world. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041502577_2.html